Love and…
by Civilized Lee
Summary: A self-indulgent, experimental collection of short, unrelated one-shots exploring love in its various forms on Pandora. (a/n: expect a bunch of masturbatory drabble and femmeslash pairings) (update: Chapter 8 posted, in which everyone's favorite assassin finds a mystery worthy of his attention)
1. Home

"You can love someone so much, but you can never love people as much as you can miss them."

— John Green

* * *

Moxxi's been watching me while pretending she's not watching me for the past twenty minutes. I haven't finished my drink yet. I'm not ready. I don't want to go back to that empty apartment.

I didn't mind so much before, when you went out on those missions. You were still close enough that I could feel you. I knew you were okay.

Now you're halfway across the world, and I can't feel that fire stirring inside of me anymore. You ECHO in every night because you don't want me to worry, but we both know I still do. I can't help it. I can't take this feeling of emptiness, the torture of not knowing if you're alright.

I know I shouldn't worry. You trust the others with your life, and so do I. But I can't help it. A part of me that I hate just wonders if one day, you won't come back along with the rest of them. I imagine Zero having to look me in the eyes and tell me the unthinkable has happened, and that there was nothing they could do, and then I start screaming at him, no, it's impossible, you can't be gone... and then I hate myself for allowing those types of thoughts to enter my head. And I keep on hating myself, until you come back, and you hold me in your arms, and make me forget everything when you kiss me with those soft, beautiful blue lips.

What are you doing right now? It's so late. Does Hammerlock have you tracking some nocturnal beast for him? Are you eating dinner with the others, laughing your charming laugh and smiling your dazzling smile as you all share stories of your battles together? Are you already asleep, getting ready for a long day of hunting tomorrow? Or are you still awake, distracted by thoughts of me, of what I'm doing while I wait impatiently for you to come back home?

I leave without finishing my drink. The streets of Sanctuary are empty, which just makes me miss you even more.

The stars are bright tonight. They make me think of you, of the way your eyes light up and dance when you look into mine. It comforts me to think that they're the same ones that hover in the sky above you, but I wonder if you're even out to look up at them.

All that's left to do is go back to our apartment, fall into bed, and let myself drift off to sleep. But I won't fall asleep, because I'll be kept up, waiting for you to come home again.

Waiting for the moment when that warm stirring sensation comes to life in my chest, the one I always get whenever you're near me.

Waiting for the moment I get to greet you with a kiss when you walk in the door, despite your protests that you're all dirty from your trip and that you need to take a shower.

Waiting for the moment when we can fall into bed together, when we can lie in each other's arms and just breathe together, when I can look into your silver eyes as your soft fingertips caress my beaming face, and your gentle voice soothes my kick-drum heart.

Waiting for the moment when my heart stops, when I feel completely weightless, when you stop the entire world: the moment you tell me in a hushed whisper, as if you're afraid you might break the words as they come out of your mouth.

The moment you tell me, "I love you, Lilith."


	2. Beauty

"Being in love is totally punk rock."

— Joey Comeau

* * *

Maya nearly cut off all her hair, and Gaige thinks that is so punk rock.

The way her silvery-blue hair occasionally swings in front of her eyes, the way she flips it aside with a flash of a tattoo and a swish of her powers, the way it's uneven and sloppy in the back, like she decided to lop it all off one day with nothing but a pair of scissors and an annoyed mood. The little things that would go unnoticed by others. Gaige is captivated by them.

What is it that turns a goddess? What was it that compelled her to lop off those long flowing locks? There's a certain courage to that, a refusal to be who the world expects her to be. It's a courage Gaige would like to have, the feeling that she doesn't have to apologize for herself.

There's so much about her that Gaige wants to get to know better. Was it boring, being treated as a goddess? What kind of powers does she have that she hasn't shown the rest? Do her eyes start glowing when she gets angry? Gaige considers herself an open book. Maya knows so much about her, just from listening to her ECHOcasts, and Gaige knows so little about Maya.

Maybe there's a certain charm in mystery, but even that can only carry her so far. After all, the fun isn't in the mystery, the fun is in the finding out.

Maya has a tattoo sleeve, and Gaige thinks that is incredibly punk rock.

Okay, sure, it's not like she actually got ink injected into her skin, but she wears it loud and proud on that bare arm, and she doesn't give a second thought to the fearful stares or the awed whispers behind cupped hands that seem to follow her wherever she goes.

Gaige is used to getting looks at her cybernetic arm, but she can't seem to ignore them the way Maya does. She's all too conscious of the heavy hunk of steel hanging from her left shoulder, and the stares don't help that one bit. She calls it awkward and hideous, but Maya tells Gaige that there's beauty in that arm, a beauty deeper than the skin, a beauty that comes from dedicating herself to something that's deeply important to her.

Maybe there is a beauty in who people are rather than what they look like. As stunning as those tattoos are, it's not their gentle contours or their soft blueness that captivates Gaige: it's the way Maya doesn't feel like she has to hide them. There's soft, silky skin underneath those tattoos, but there's also boldness, and confidence, and Gaige wants to feel _all_ of it.

And maybe she's touching that boldness when she approaches Maya in the bar the same night they killed Jack, and asks her, "Do you wanna get out of here?"

Maya looks over at Gaige, not sure she heard the redhead correctly over the roar of the bar patrons, the chiming of the slot machines, and the thumping bass of the music. "Go where?" she asks, placing her left hand on the small of Gaige's back and leaning towards her.

And maybe Gaige is feeling some of that confidence when she shakes her head, her heart thumping in her chest and her back tingling where Maya's hand rests, and says, "Doesn't matter. Anywhere."

Maya straightens up to look at Gaige. The left corner of her mouth curls into a lopsided grin.

"We saved the _world_ tonight, Maya. Don't you wanna go out and explore it?"

Maya's lips spread into a full grin, and Gaige feels her own mouth mirroring the movement. "You don't wanna stay here and celebrate with everyone else?"

"I do if you do. I really don't care where we go, I just wanna go there with you."

Maya beams at Gaige, her head tilting to the side, causing a strand of her hair to fall over her face. Gaige raises her right hand and brushes it aside.

"You wanna go?" Gaige asks, but she's quickly quieted by a soft finger over her lips.

"You never did know when to shut up, did you?" Maya asks teasingly, before leaning in, pressing her glowing cyan lips to Gaige's pink ones in a kiss.

Gaige feels her knees nearly buckle as her hands find Maya's hips. The sensation is almost exactly as she'd imagined it countless times before. A rush of energy shooting down through her back, a tingling sensation dancing on her lips and her tongue, the reassuring warmth of Maya's hands on her waist. Though she's delighted to find out that Maya's lips are cool to the touch – pleasantly so, like dipping her toes into a gentle river on a hot summer day.

Maya slowly breaks the kiss, taking the redhead's hands in her own. With their foreheads touching and their eyes locked, the Siren flashes a sly smile before murmuring, "Let's get outta here."

As they straighten up, Gaige looks down at their joined hands. They don't match up with each other: flesh on steel, plain skin on tattooed swirls.

But Gaige just thinks that is totally punk rock.


	3. Tonight

"I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year."

Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sonnet XXVII

* * *

"It's been so long," she says, her head resting on her right hand and her elbow placed on the pillow.

"Too long."

"I thought maybe you were avoiding me."

Axton shakes his head and flashes a grin. "You know that's not happening."

She suggestively slides her left index finger down over the thin sheet draped over her hip, the only thing covering her naked body from his eyes. "You always come back..." she says, a small smile playing across her lips.

"You expect anything else?"

She lets out a chuckle and brushes a lock of flaming red hair away from her face. "I hope you didn't lose too much sleep without me."

"Not as much as we're gonna lose tonight."

With the lights turned down low, Axton pulls back the covers and climbs into bed with her.

Lilith makes Axton forget everything. She makes him forget losing his duel with Salvador over who got that brand new combat rifle from the chest they found in the Caustic Caverns. She makes him forget the pain in the scar in his left side that he got as a souvenir from two tours on Thrace. She makes him forget the fight he and Maya had when Gaige nearly died in Frostburn Canyon because she got separated from him. She makes him forget the last words Sarah said to him. She makes him forget the look in Sarah's eyes the last time he saw her, a sorrowful mix of longing and regret.

All he can think of is her fingernails running down his back, her lips brushing against his ear, her reassuring warmth...

* * *

"Heading back?" she asks him as he steps out of the bathroom, his pants on and his shirt still off.

"Yeah," he says, looking at the soft curves of her body beneath the thin burgundy sheet.

"I don't suppose you could be convinced to stay..." she says, her right hand sliding over the empty space in the bed beside her.

"Sorry. You know I want to, but..." He shakes his head, and she nods knowingly.

She heaves a sigh as she watches him pull a gray t-shirt over his head and tug its hem down to his waistline. "Something wrong?" she asks in a soft voice, as if she's afraid of the answer.

He looks over at her and chuckles as she picks at her cuticles. "If you're asking me if I regret this, the answer is _hell no_." He feels his mouth curling into a grin as her cheeks redden.

"I just... I don't want this to be..." She slowly trails off before finishing her sentence, ending it instead with a lazy flourish of her left hand.

Axton walks over and sits beside her on the edge of the bed. "It isn't," he whispers to her, cupping her chin in his hand. She studies his arm for a moment before locking gazes with him. He looks back at her, thinking how much her eyes remind him of Sarah's.

"ECHO me tomorrow?" she asks as he tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You got it."

He leans in and plants a slow kiss on her lips, her warm fingertips leaving a slow trail down his right cheek. After they pull apart, Lilith lies back and sighs, watching him as he gets up and slowly walks out the door.

Axton takes off his combat boots once he gets back to his apartment. After drinking a glass of water, he saunters back to the bedroom.

He hears a stirring in his bed as he tries to quietly shut the door behind him.

"Mmm... Ax? That you?"

"Yeah," he calls back in a soft voice. "Sorry, I was tryin' to be quiet."

Maya hums softly in response. "That's alright. I was awake anyway."

With his hands on the hem of his shirt, he pauses and looks over at her. She's lying on her side, facing away from him. She's dressed in one of his t-shirts, and a blue bedsheet covers the rest of her. He slowly pulls his shirt off, still watching her as he does.

"Yeah?" he asks in a casual tone as he heads into the bathroom, leaving the door cracked open. "Something keeping you up?"

Through the slit in the door, he makes out the small movement of her shaking her head. "Nothing, really..."

He spends another moment in the bathroom before coming out dressed in a pair of plain boxer shorts. As he starts to climb into bed behind her, Maya speaks up.

"Just thinking about Lilith, actually."

He freezes for a split second before easing into bed behind her. He decides to test the water by putting a hand on her waist. She doesn't shy from the contact, and he doesn't feel her muscles tensing up. "What about her?" he asks, scooting slightly closer.

Maya sighs. "I dunno. Just worried about her..."

He feels a small pit sucking at the pit of his stomach, but he doesn't want to avoid the topic altogether. "You think she might have relapsed?"

Maya shakes her head. "No, not that..."

He remains silent, waiting with bated breath for her to speak up again.

"Well... maybe. I'm not sure."

Axton gently eases closer, pressing his chest lightly to her back.

"I don't know. Maybe it's nothing."

"She'd probably tell you if something was going on with her, right?" he asks, running his hand over her right arm.

"Yeah... yeah, I suppose she probably would..."

Axton lets out a slow breath and rubs her right shoulder reassuringly. She lifts her head up and adjusts her pillow before laying back down again.

"I love you, Mye," he says softly, kissing her on the side of her neck.

"I love you too, Ax," she murmurs back, still staring blankly ahead out the window in front of her.

He can't help but notice the split second of hesitation she took before saying the words.


	4. Forever, part 1

"Perhaps home is not a place, but simply an irrevocable condition."

— James Baldwin

* * *

Things don't always go according to plan. I still remember the day you told me that, so many years ago. It seems like it was in another lifetime.

I didn't say goodbye to you. I never got the chance. I've always regretted that. I wanted to tell you how much you meant to me. I know that you always knew that, but I wish I got the chance to tell you myself.

He did everything he could to break me. He tried to take you away from me. But he didn't count on memory being forever.

I used to get angry at myself for what happened to you. I blamed myself for so long. I told myself that if it weren't for what I did, none of this would have happened. That you'd still be here, with me. And maybe you would be. Or maybe he would have killed you anyway, and honestly I think that would have hurt a hell of a lot more.

I'm ashamed to admit I even got angry at you sometimes. I know it's not fair, but you told me never to apologize for how I feel. But even still, there was always that part of me that kept telling me it wasn't my fault. There was a part of me that kept telling me not to let him beat me, to stay strong, that I had a reason to keep fighting him. But then one day I realized that it wasn't a part of me saying that. It was you. It was a part of you that I've kept with me forever. That was the day I knew I could destroy him.

The day you were gone, everything turned to hell. But whenever I fell, you were always there to pick me up. Even after you were gone, you were there for me. I never would have made it to this point if it weren't for you. You gave me the strength to make it this far, and I think I'm finally ready to come home.

He thought he could break me like he broke them. He thought I'd be destroyed without you. He was wrong. I've never spent a day of my life without you, and that was the one thing he couldn't take from me.

All of this, everything I've done was always for you. I hope that you would have been proud of me. I think you would be, if you could see me now.

The last words you said to me are burned into my memory. You told me not to worry. You told me I'd be able to spread my wings and leave him behind. You told me my problems wouldn't last forever. I didn't believe you then. Now I know you were right. You were the most right thing in my world of wrongs.

They're here. This is it. Maybe they're too late to save me, but I'm fine with that. I've accepted that it has to end like this. Maybe it won't go according to plan, but I know they're strong enough to stop him. I've given them enough strength for that. Strength that I got from you.

Maybe it'll hurt. But that seems like a small price to pay for the chance to see you again.

I'm not afraid anymore. I think I got that from you. And I think...

I _know_

that if I meet you again tonight... if I can feel you hold me one more time... I'll be okay. Forever.

You are home.


	5. Chemistry

"and possibly I like the thrill  
of under me you so quite new."

— e. e. cummings

* * *

Theirs is a connection no one would understand. Theirs is a connection that can only be expressed in secret, away from prying eyes.

Their first meeting was a chance one. An otherwise uneventful day, made memorable to him by a random encounter in the town square. Their eyes locked, and that was the moment he knew he wanted to learn more of what lies beneath.

She would destroy him if she ever found out about it. He knows that much. But even in that, there's a certain thrill, whenever they're together. The thrill of the forbidden. Knowing it's so wrong but it still feels so right, the most right he ever remembers feeling. There's a spark there, one that he wishes they could use to start a flame. Flames are hot, and they can burn, and they can get out of control, but they can also be beautiful to behold, and they can warm even the coldest of nights.

They pass one another in the streets of Sanctuary, from time to time. They're reduced to exchanging glances, with him wondering when they'll be able to be alone once again. The loneliness is terrible, and their times together are some of the few times he truly feels connected to another being. And those long absences don't help, either. Days on end without seeing each other, without any contact at all. They're enough to make him want to curl up and disappear.

But that's the last thing he wants now. They'll be together soon. Tonight's the night.

But when he gets to their usual spot, it's completely empty. It's the same way it is most of the time, but somehow it seems more barren than usual. It never was a space for just one, he thinks.

He looks around, then starts wandering around town. Tonight's the night, it has to be.

A door, left partly open, piques his curiosity, but it's the sounds behind it that make him push it open to investigate.

And there they both are: she's on her knees in front of the object of his affection, hard at work. He can see a bead of sweat running down her forehead.

He freezes, just for a moment, embarrassed and horrified that he could walk in on such an intensely personal moment. But when he tries to quietly exit, she notices him first, and casts a glance over at him. Caught off-guard, and not knowing what else to do, he blurts out without even processing the words.

"Hey, there, minion! Upgrading your bot?"

* * *

**a/n**: Sorry.

But I needed to write something, and robots need love too, dammit.


	6. Silence

"Silence is pure and holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking."

— Nicholas Sparks

* * *

Gaige and Lilith lie asleep in each other's arms on the bed, Gaige's chest pressed gently against Lilith's back. A thin coating of sweat embraces their bodies, a product of the blistering heat of the Pandoran daylight, but they lie together, peacefully asleep, their breath hanging low and heavy in the dry desert air.

The occasional squawk of a rakk or the distant sounds of Axton testing a new rifle in the shooting range do little to disturb the peaceful stillness of Gaige's bedroom. Flecks of dust float suspended in the air, dancing in the sunbeams that sneak in through the window, pushed along through the air by the occasional soft current of warm air that rolls in and soothes their skin as it wafts over them.

Out on the planet below, the other Vault Hunters tug at their collars and swear and empty the sand from their shoes as they slog through another hell of a day on Pandora, the heat from the bright sunlight almost weighing them down as much as their equipment does. Meanwhile, high in the sky in Sanctuary, Lilith and Gaige slumber lazily side-by-side, contentedly oblivious of the frantic pace of the planet's inhabitants outside their private refuge on top of the purple sheets draped over Gaige's bed, aware of absolutely nothing but each other.

A cool, gentle rush of air creeps in through the window and washes over their bodies. Gaige is gently awakened by Lilith shivering just for a brief moment, and she pulls her Siren closer, not yet wanting to let her know she's awake. Her eyes still shut, she exhales slowly, still unwilling to face the reality of the afternoon.

Lilith slowly stirs from her sleep, tickled by the warm breath soft on the back of her neck, smiling at the firmness of Gaige's right hand on her hip. For a minute, she tries to let herself slip back into sleep, and not let Gaige know she's awake, but her restless mind is quick to make sleep an impossibility. She moves her right hand down on top of Gaige's, fingertips gentle on her skin, and she feels Gaige's lips tenderly kissing a line along her bare shoulder in response. She tries to focus on those lips as they graze across her skin, on the soft caresses of Gaige's toes on the soles of her feet, but after a few minutes the craving is becoming too strong to ignore.

With a fragile grip, she holds onto Gaige's hand and slides it off her hip as she sits up, but when she stands up, she feels a gentle tugging on her wrist. She looks over her shoulder into Gaige's eyes, so big and pleading and desperate and _stunningly_ emerald. Neither of them speak a word, because neither of them needs to. Lilith looks into her eyes for several long seconds, but when she starts to feel short of breath, she averts her gaze, redirecting it to the floor. All the while, Gaige watches her. She watches her, not desperately, not accusingly, and certainly not judgmentally: just honestly.

Lilith relents. She slips back into the bed and lies down in front of Gaige, nose to nose, toe to toe. Gaige steals a slow kiss from her lips and trails her fingertips slowly over the tattoos on Lilith's bare hip and thigh. As Gaige nuzzles up against her, Lilith slowly inhales, taking in the faint scent of pumpkin still hanging in Gaige's hair from that morning's shower.

As they lie there together, in each other's arms, a serene silence blankets them, neither feeling the need to fill it with sweet whispered nothings in the other's ear, both content to lie back and let the day drift past them, together.


	7. Misery

"Would that we were better strangers."

— William Shakespeare

* * *

It's been two weeks since Axton and I split up.

Actually, let me clarify that: It's been two _long, agonizing_ weeks since Axton and I split up.

You know how they say to never mix work and pleasure, never date a coworker? They're right. Now I have to see him every damn day, walking through the Raiders HQ, picking up bounties from Mordy and Brick and just breezing past me and pretending nothing even happened between us. I swear, if he comes to me looking for work, I'll kick his ass so hard he'll taste the sole of my boot. And then, when I understandably get annoyed by him coming around, suddenly Mordy and Brick start asking what's wrong, even though I've told them time and again that I don't want to talk about it. I would rather give a bullymong-hug to a shock cactus than have _that_ conversation with those two.

Can't go to Moxxi's anymore. It just reminds me of him, where he asked me out. Doesn't matter, anyway. I'm sure he'll start spending a lot more time there, flirting with Moxxi, and I definitely have no interest in watching that play out. Can't go out to the Badass Crater Bar, either, because he tried asking me out there, too. But oh well. I guess getting drunk probably wouldn't be a great way to cope anyway.

Can't go back out to Frostburn Canyon, since it's where we first met. I can't even go out and kill bandits, because it reminds me of the times we did that together. I'm reduced to spending most of my time in Sanctuary with Mordy and Brick, just trying to avoid running into him anywhere. I can't even spend time alone in my room, because I boxed up all the stuff he left behind at my place and he still hasn't come and picked it up.

And then there's the eridium cravings, but I guess that isn't really anything new. I'll lie awake and alone in bed at night, bundled up under three layers of blankets but still freezing my ass off. Then the craving gets to be too much, and I use, and then I ride out the rush, but once that wears off I'm just back to feeling like the most worthless piece of shit to have ever graced the face of this planet. I tell myself that I'll stop soon, but deep down I know that's a lie. I know it'll happen the same way next time, with me lying awake at night, feeling exhausted and dehydrated but unable to fall asleep, knowing the only way to feel better is to take more damn eridium. And then I get to deal with the shame of being addicted to this purple shit that's slowly killing me, deal with people giving me _that_ look, on top of all the other emotional baggage I've been carrying.

So, yeah. I think it's safe to say that I have been pretty miserable since Axton and I broke up, thanks for asking.

But fuck it.

Because as awful as I feel right now, it's not nearly as bad as it was when we were still together.


	8. Mystery

"What would be left to strive for if everything were known?"

— Charles de Lint

* * *

Hyperion was no challenge. They were mere men. Engineers, construction foremen, architects. They didn't stand a chance against Zero, and his blade, and his years of training.

Even without the other Vault Hunters to watch his back, he moves quickly, slipping in and out of view as the bullets fly around them. Before it can even detect the threat, both of a GUN loader's arms are sliced off. A nearby engineer takes aim and fires at the man wielding the sword, only to scream out in pain and collapse to the ground as his back is riddled with incendiary and corrosive kunai. Before the other Hyperion personnel can take aim, Zero has vanished again.

He toys with them. When a loader activates its self destruct sequence, he lures it over to a group of soldiers, using his hologram to trick the bot into killing its allies. When a Hyperion spy activates his cloaking device, Zero does the same, vanishing from view and stalking the invisible man, watching him with the infrared sensors built into his mask. He waits until the soldier deactivates his cloak before running him through with his sword.

Soon, the small base is silent. Too soon for his liking. In the end, the Warrior was no challenge. Jack was too easy, to the point where he knew he wouldn't even get satisfaction out of being the one to end the man's life. And now, as the Crimson Raiders wipe out the remaining Hyperion presence, one by one, all he can think of is how easy it is, now that the men are without their charismatic leader.

He glances down, and when he sees the red dot of a laser sight on his chest, the thought briefly flashes through his mind that perhaps they were _too_ easy.

Before he can turn his head up, the sharp crack of a sniper rifle being fired makes him flinch. To his amazement, he hears the bullet as it misses its mark and flies past him, missing the side of his head by mere inches. He looks up at the roof where the sound came from, and sees a slender, armored figure gently lowering a Hyperion marksman to the ground with their left hand, a blood-stained knife in the right.

He watches curiously as the figure makes its way down off of the roof, leaping and rolling onto a storage crate, then performing a front-flip as it jumps off the crate, landing in a crouch with one hand flat on the ground and the other stuck out to the side.

"You should be more cautious." The voice is stern and reprimanding, and very clearly feminine.

She straightens up, feet set shoulder-width apart in the dust, and places her hands on her hips. She's about a head shorter than he is, but what she lacks in stature, she makes up for with a confident stance. Back rigidly straight, shoulders back, boots set firmly on the ground. It's the kind of posture that comes with years of training, years of being on-guard. He inspects her face, but everything below her eyes is covered by a black scarf. The chips and scratches in her faded armor tell him she's been doing what she does for a long time.

He slowly reaches his left hand towards the hilt of his sword, but without even taking her eyes off of his visor, she snaps, "Don't be stupid."

He leans his head back slightly, lowering his hands back to his sides.

"You're wondering who I am," she states, not bothering to phrase it as a question. "That's not important. I've been watching you for a while, now."

His shoulders tense up. He had felt eyes on him for almost a week, but he didn't have a shred of proof that somebody was shadowing him until now. He suspects the only reason he's even seeing her now is because she wants to be seen.

"You've been getting careless." She narrows her eyes. "Arrogant. You weren't keeping your eyes to the sky just now, and it could have gotten you killed if I wasn't here."

"But you were," he says, speaking up for the first time.

"You may not be so lucky next time."

He straightens up and slowly folds his arms over his chest. "Something's telling me that luck has nothing to do with why you are here."

Though he can't see her lips, he can tell she's smiling by the look in her eyes. "You're right," she says, a hint of amusement in her voice, but whatever it is she knows, she's not telling him. She starts to walk towards the exit of the Hyperion compound, pausing and looking up at him as she reaches his left side. "An assassin's greatest enemy is pride. Not looking at every foe you face as a challenge will be your undoing."

His curiosity piqued, he turns and watches her as she walks down the dirt road leading away from the base. He tilts his head to the side. This isn't the last time he'll see her, he knows, or maybe he's just hoping. If she's out there watching him, he'll feel it, just like he did before.

Whether or not he'll actually find her, he's not sure. But he's certainly up to the challenge.

* * *

She doesn't so much as look back as she walks away from him. She places a finger to her ECHO device and calls up her contact.

"Any news?"

"I found him. He was clearing out an old Atlas outpost that Hyperion had refurbished." She takes off the scarf over her face. "You were right, Lilith. He's getting careless."

On the other side of the ECHO, she hears Lilith sigh. "Any advice?"

"He and I had a little... chat. Whether or not it got through to him, I'm not sure. That mask makes him hard to read."

"Well... thanks, anyway. If you could, stay on him a while longer, okay? Don't let him give you the slip."

"I don't think he'll be trying to avoid me," she says, with a knowing smirk on her face. "I'll contact you if there's something else worth reporting. Athena, out."


End file.
